The Inspector tells Birling that: “We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that

the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be

taught it in fire and blood and anguish.”

Birling tells his family that everyone is on their own, “A man has to make his own way

– has to look after himself.”

The Inspector tells Shelia “There are a lot of young women living that sort of

existence in every city and big town in this country, Miss Birling. If there weren’t, the

factories and warehouses wouldn’t know where to look for cheap labour.”

Sheila is sometimes called ‘the conscience’ of the play, as she is one most troubled by

Eva’s story. Bullet point three quotations below which support this viewpoint:

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*

*

1. From the initial stage directions, how do we know that the Birling family have a

wealthy lifestyle?

2. What does Sheila’s engagement to Gerald mean to Arthur Birling?

3. List two of the major events that Birling predicts incorrectly in his long speech. How

does this make an audience feel about his character?

4. Mrs. Birling advises Sheila of the role she must accept as the wife of a businessman.

Does Sheila accept this and what does this show?

5. Why does Priestley script the doorbell to ring when it does?

6. The commanding tone and control of the Inspector unnerves Mr Birling. Can you

find an example of this?

7. What ‘notion’ does the Inspector agree with Sheila about at the end of this act? Why

has Priestly made his character say this do you think?

Select three of the most significant quotations from Act 1… Remember they can be stage

directions as well as dialogue.

Quotation Key words and connotations

What effect do particular words have?

Why have they been chosen?

What can you infer from this?

What does this reveal/ make you

think about the character?

Act 1begins by introducing the characters and establishing the idea of a happy

and united family looking forward to the future with a degree of pomposity and

confidence.

There are however a few hints that all is not as it seems but these are not made obvious

until later in the play.

Sheila states ‘except for all summer, when you never came near me’.

Who is she talking to and how does this develop tension in Act 1?

Key theme: One of the major themes in the play is the idea of ‘social responsibility’ and

Priestley uses the relationship between the working class and the rich to explore the

struggle between socialism and capitalism.

The two different views of society are represented by Birling and the Inspector. Find

examples from Act 1 which show how both these characters view Eva Smith and factory

workers.

Key theme: Another key theme is the attitudes of different generations towards

responsibility as the older and younger generations deal with the Inspector and Eva

Smith’s death in different ways.

In Act 2, Mrs. Birling enters “briskly ... quite out of key with the little scene that has just

passed,” and attempts to send Sheila to bed. She is urgently interrupted by Sheila just as

she generalizing about “Girls of that class.” Sheila tells her mother that she must not try to

build up “a kind of wall” between the Birlings and the girl, for the Inspector will only break

it down. Sheila uses imagery when she talks of her mother’s attempts to ‘build up a kind

of wall’; implying the metaphorical distance Mrs Birling creates between the classes.

When Sheila warns the others that the Inspector is ‘giving us rope so that we hang

ourselves’, she once again uses a metaphor to create a visual image of the way the

Inspector skilfully manipulates characters into confessing their sins.

Mrs. Birling continues, trying to establish control over the situation by being cold toward

the Inspector. Mrs Birling uses imperatives as she commands the Inspector and other

characters ‘Go and look for the father of the child. It’s his responsibility’ which conveys

her superiority, confidence and self-assurance. Sheila then reveals that Eric drinks far too

much, in response to a question from the Inspector, which provokes Mrs. Birling’s surprise.

Eric, Sheila explains, has been “steadily drinking too much for the last two years.”

Consider: How does Sheila develop as a character during this part of the play? Think

about how we felt about her in the beginning.

Bullet point 3 key quotations which show Mrs Birling’s different attitudes to Eva Smith:

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*

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“There’s every excuse for what your mother and I did,” Birling says, before Sheila stops him,

telling him he cannot begin to pretend that nothing much has happened. Birling counters

that he will suffer the most from a public scandal, provoking Sheila to comment that he

does not seem to have learned anything. Mr. and Mrs. Birling note that the Inspector’s

manner was odd. Gerald returns. Down the road he met a police sergeant he knew, and

the man swore that there “wasn’t any Inspector Goole or anybody like him on the force

here.” Birling immediately rings up the Chief Constable, Colonel Roberts. He is that there is

no Inspector Goole on the police force. Eric argues that everyone’s bad deeds are still

the same, whether or not the Inspector was a police inspector. Birling begins to get

annoyed, telling Eric he will have to pay back the money he stole. At that, Sheila interjects

that it “won’t bring Eva Smith back to life,” and Eric adds that “we all helped to kill her,”

quoting the Inspector. Gerald questions whether there really was an Eva Smith who

committed suicide. To make the final proof, Gerald rings the Infirmary to check. They tell

him that nobody was brought in after drinking disinfectant. “They haven’t had a suicide

for months.”

Task: Highlight the key quotations above and summarise the differences

between the generations shown in this Act.

At the start of

the play this

character

was…

To this

character

Eva was…

Quotation to

support this from

the beginning of

the play…

Have the character’s

attitudes changed?

How do you know this?

Mr Birling

Keen to cement

his social rise

through Shelia’s

marriage.

Insecure about

his social status.

Simply

cheap

labour – he

did not think

of her as a

person.

Mrs Birling

Social superior

to her husband

who cares a lot

about strict

distinction

between the

social classes.

A pregnant

nobody

who and

not Mrs

Birling’s

responsibility

.

Sheila

Happy taking

advantage of

the benefits of

her social class

– a selfish young

woman who

enjoys spending

time in

expensive

shops.

Someone

beneath he

social status

who

deserved to

be fired out

of spite and

because

she was

pretty.

Gerald

Prepared to

marry Shelia

despite her

lower social

status and the

disapproval of

his mother.

A mistress to

be used

and

discarded

as he

pleases.

Eric

Feels awkward

about the

benefits from his

social status.

An easy

woman to

enjoy at the

end of a

drunken

night out.

Characters One way of judging the characters is to look at the way they change, or don’t change by the end of the play.

He is wealthy and middle-class with aims of becoming part of the upper class.

Hopes to be knighted “there’s a fair chance that I might find my way into the next

Honours List”

As a local magistrate he sees himself as being above the law. He thinks he can get

away with things. In Act One he says he know the Chief Constable – “we play golf

together sometimes”

He is totally unaware of the effects of his actions on other people. He doesn’t care

that there are low wages for workers. He celebrates ripping off his workers and

customers “lower costs and higher prices”

Priestley uses Birling as a symbol of the callous and heartlessness of capitalism.

Through his character he is criticizing the complacency of capitalist prosperity.

He is representative of the older generation who were unwilling to change as at the

end of the play he is glad to have avoided a public scandal

‘you’ll hear some

people say war is

Inevitable …

fiddlesticks!’

His language is also

very dismissive when

he says

‘Fiddlesticks!’ and

‘silly’ - he belittles

other’s ideas.

“(rather impatiently)

Horrid business. But I

don’t understand why

you should come here.”

His language changes

when the Inspector

arrives as he speaks in

short, sharp fragments.

He does not like losing

his authority to the

Inspector.

“I was an alderman for years

– and Lord Mayor two years

ago – and I’m still on the

Bench – so I know the

Brumley police offers pretty

well”

He often uses ‘I’ which

conveys his selfish attitude,

however, as the play

continues he switches to the

inclusive pronoun ‘we’ to

diminish the scale of the

problem (Eva’s death) and

shift blame.

Priestley uses Mrs Birling to epitomize all that is wrong with society. She represents the

social snobbery and hypocrisy of the upper classes and shows no remorse in her

cruel treatment of Eva Smith.

She refuses Eva Smith money for just having the cheek to use the same name as

her, calling it “a piece of gross impertinence”

She is also a hypocrite and judges lower classes more harshly than her own family.

She calls (in a moment of dramatic irony) her own son a ‘drunken young idler’.

Priestley presents her as an absurd character that ironically passes her own social

guilt onto her own son – condemning him. As a result, Priestley deals with Mrs Birling

with special severity, having her fall into a trap of her own making: she is confronted

with the knowledge that Eric is a hard drinker and the father of the dead woman’s

child. She has helped to kill her own grandchild. It is only when she realises this does

she begin to show any signs of weakening.

Priestley shows us that we should not trust the wealthy members of society to tell the

truth.

“About fifty, a rather cold

woman and her husband’s

social superior”

The stage descriptions of

her actions change as the

pretence is revealed e.g.

‘grandly’ / ‘haughtily’/

‘triumphantly’ become

‘rather cowed’/ ‘distressed’

‘staggered’ / ‘alarmed’.

“girls of that class”

Mrs Birling’s language is

quite abrupt and dismissive:

‘that class’/ ‘that sort’/ ‘the

type’. She believes she is

morally and socially

superior to them – she is a

snob.

“he ought to be dealt with very

severely-…make sure that he’s

compelled to confess in public

his responsibility”

Priestley uses the character of Sheila to represent his own views of social

responsibility.

She offers hope for the future and Priestley uses Shelia as an example of people’s

changing attitudes towards those less fortunate than themselves. She is sympathetic

towards Eva and other girls in her position, recognising that they were “not just

cheap labour but people”.

Sheila is the character who works out the tragedy of Eva Smith most quickly.

When she admits that she was at fault for having Eva fired from Milwards. She asks

the Inspector if “I’m really responsible?” She also works out that Gerald has been up

to no good. “I expect you’ve done things you’re ashamed of too.”

She accepts that her actions impacted on Eva’s life and that she cannot

disconnect her actions from the effects these have on others. She recognises and

understands the Inspector’s message that we are all collectively responsible for all

that happens in the world.

At times she acts as almost an assistant to the Inspector, in that she supports his

criticism of the other characters, becoming his mouthpiece when he has left the

stage.

“Yes, go on, Mummy”

Sheila’s language also reflects

her increasing maturity as she

begins the play saying

“mummy” using a lot of

personal pronouns to highlight

her selfish, childlike attitude at

the start of the play. As the play

progresses she refers to Mrs

Birling as “mother” which

reflects this change and

perhaps she doesn’t feel as

intimate with her mother and

has lost respect for her

because of the way she is

behaving.

“Why- you fool- he knows. Of

course he knows. And I hate to

think how much he knows that

we don’t know yet. You’ll see.

You’ll see.”

Sheila significantly refuses to take back

Gerald’s ring and interestingly she uses

phrases reminiscent of the Inspector in her

reply, “not yet” and “It’s too soon” which

emphasizes the importance of timing – the

telephone rings just after.

Gerald is a real member of the upper classes, the son of Sir George Croft and Lady

Croft.

He is also quite weak and willing to do the easy thing. Look at how he sucks up to

Birling – “I believe you’re right Sir’.

He is also a liar, he tells Sheila that he has been very busy at work when he has

been having an affair.

Priestley uses the character of Gerald Croft to throw light both on the Birling parents

who are too set in their social ways to be changed by the Inspector’s visit, and on

the Birling children who are certainly very responsive to the Inspector’s message,

but possibly in a slightly naïve and hysterical way. Gerald acts as a bridge between

the two generations.

Gerald provides a strong contrast to Eric, Mr Birling’s natural son and Priestley uses

Gerald to show the tensions between Eric and his father.

In the end he is very much concerned with his reputation above everything else.

Look at his relief when he finds out the hospital has not got the body of a suicide

victim. He believes that the most important thing is if the Inspector is a fake as “that

makes all the difference.”

Priestley shows that it was common for the upper class to behave so badly towards

the lower-class by having Gerald present. If the Inspector only questioned the Birling

family, Priestley wouldn’t be able to convey to the audience how widespread the

problem was.

“Everything’s all right

now Sheila. What

about this ring?”

Gerald uses imagery of a

rescue mission when

describing his role in Daisy

Renton’s death. He does

this to lessen his guilt and

try and justify his

behaviour.

Eric is one of the few characters who has managed to change because of the

terrible experience of Eva Smith. He says it was “tough luck” that she was sacked,

and shows sympathy for her tragic life. Later on he realises that the Inspector was

showing them their own faults: “He was our police inspector all right”

Through Eric’s treatment of Eva “I wasn’t in love with her or anything” an abhorrent

picture of the upper-class emerges. They are shown to be callous and cold.

However, Eric illustrates the capacity to change – despite your past errors and your

family’s beliefs you can change. His transformation is more realistic – as at first he

blames his mother for her death and then finally comes round to accepting

responsibility.

On the other hand, he is presented as quite a weak character and is the most

emotional and demonstrative of all. This leads the audience to question whether he

can change his ways for good or is he too weak and dependent on his parents?

When Eric gives Eva stolen money, Priestley could be commenting that wealth does

not replace goodness and integrity – there needed to be a more even distribution

of wealth so people like Eric become socially aware.

As his verbal attack on

his mother continues,

his language becomes

more violent.

“I wasn’t in love with her

or anything- but I liked

her- she was pretty and a

good sport-”

The Inspector assumes control, which is a disturbing shift for Birling and he immediately

tries to regain it. The Inspector interrupts Birling ‘cutting through, massively’. The Inspector’s

interruptions and his indifference to the nicer points of polite behaviour make him stand

apart from the others. He outwits the family by isolating them, “one line of inquiry at a

time”

He speaks in a controlled way, often building on comments made by other characters.

He repeats words they have used and manipulates them for his own end. Examples

include his repetition and manipulation of the word ‘impression’ and his manipulation of

the word ‘position’, the meaning of which he changes from a metaphorical to a more

literal one, in order to shock Mrs Birling.

The Inspector also turns each character’s words and actions back upon him or her, e.g.

he draws attention to Gerald’s hypocrisy regarding women: “And you think young

women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things?” This theme of

reversal runs through the structure of the play.

Chain imagery – Goole emphasizes how we are all responsible for each other and Eva’s

death was the result of a chain of events etc.

Through the Inspector’s final dramatic speech, Priestley skilfully warns the audience of the

potential social disasters of failing to support or help those in need in society.

“A girl died tonight. A pretty, lively sort of girl, who

never did anybody any harm. But she died in

misery and agony- hating life-”

“Need not be a big man but he

creates at once an impression of

massiveness, solidity and

purposefulness.”

(To Gerald) “And you think

young women ought to be

protected against

unpleasant and disturbing

things?”